Malak-Malak language

Malak-Malak (also spelt Mullukmulluk, Malagmalag), also known as Ngolak-Wonga (Nguluwongga), is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Mulluk-Mulluk people. Malakmalak is nearly extinct, with children growing up speaking Kriol or English instead. The language is spoken in the Daly River area around Woolianna and Nauiyu. The Kuwema or Tyaraity (Tyeraty) variety is distinct.

Malakmalak was formerly classified as an independent member of the Northern Daly languages, but is now considered a language isolate. Along with the "Anson Bay" group of Wagaydy (Patjtjamalh, Wadjiginy, Kandjerramalh) and the unattested Giyug. Green concluded that Wagaydy and Malakmalak were two separate language families. Some later classifications have linked them such as Bowern (2011). However, the Wagaydy people are recent arrivals in the area, and their language may only be similar due to borrowing. AIATSIS and Glottolog both treat Wagaydy as an isolate and Giyug as unclassifiable.

In contemporary usage, "Northern Daly" (e.g. Harvey 2003, Cahir 2006, Nordlinger 2017) most often refers specifically to the group of languages which includes Malakmalak and Tyerraty (also known as Guwema), a variety with which MalakMalak differs significantly in vocabulary (65% according to Tryon's 200 word list), but is very close to morphologically.

Plosives /p t c k/ may be heard as voiced as [b d ɟ ɡ] when intervocalic.

MalakMalak, is an ergative-absolutive language with constituent order mainly determined by information structure and prosody, but syntactically free. Marking of core-cases is optional. The language is mostly dependent-marking (1), but also has no marking (2) and head-marking features (3).

MalakMalak's verb phrase uses complex predicates. These consist of an inflecting verb that has properties of person, number and tense. MalakMalak only has six such verbs. In example (4), yuyu and vida are inflecting verbs. Additionally, there are coverbs which have aspectual properties, but do not inflect for number, tense or person. They occur with inflecting verbs. They are unlimited in number and new verbs are also borrowed into this class. In (4), kubuk-karrarr, dat-tyed, and ka are coverbs. They can also form serial verbs (kubuk-karrarr, dat-tyed).

MalakMalak employs all three "classic" types of spatial Frames of Reference: intrinsic, relative and absolute. Additionally, the language uses place names and body-part orientation to talk about space. The intrinsic Frame requires some kind of portioning of the ground object or landmark into named facets from which search domains can be projected. In English this would be, for example, the tree is in front of the man. And in MalakMalak it would be (5).

The relative Frame of Reference involves mapping from the observer's own axes (front, back, left, right) onto the ground object. An English example is the ball is on the right. In MalakMalak it would be (6)

The absolute Frame of Reference requires xed bearings that are instantly available to all members of the community. An English example is the opera is west of here. In MalakMalak, three different types of absolute frames can be used. Those based on the course of the sun (east/west) (7a), on prevailing winds (northwesterly/southeasterly) (7b), and on two sides of the prominent Daly River (northeastern/southwestern bank) (7c).

The following basic vocabulary items of Northern Daly language varieties, including Malak-Malak (or Mullukmulluk), are from Tryon (1968).

Below is a basic vocabulary list from Blake (1981).

• Birk, D. B. W. (1976). The MalakMalak language, Daly River (Western Arnhem Land). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
• Ray, Sidney H. (Jan–Jun 1909). "The Ngolok-Wanggar Language, Daly River, North Australia". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 39. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute: 137–141. doi:10.2307/2843287. JSTOR 2843287.
• Hoffmann, Dorothea. http://drdorotheahoffmann.wordpress.com
• Hoffmann, Dorothea (2015). “Moving through space and (not?) time: North Australian dreamtime narratives,” Narratives from the South Pacific: Sociocultural explorations, ed. by F. Gounder. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 15-35
• Hoffmann, Dorothea (2014). “Mapping the Language: How a dying language loses its place in the world”, Endangered Words, Signs of Revival, ed. by Ghil'ad Zuckermann, J. Miller, and J. Morley, Adelaide: Australex, 1-18

• MalakMalak at the Dalylanguages.org website.